NWS Confirms E-F1 Tornado Hit Colleyville

Severe storms, hail, tornadoes pass through N. Texas

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The phones will be ringing at insurance adjustors' offices Wednesday after savage thunderstorms moved through north and central Texas overnight Tuesday. Tree limbs snapped, power lines dropped and roofs peeled away in the face of a storm that spawned at least one E-F 1 tornado.

Storms brought golf ball-sized hail, high winds and possibly tornadoes Tuesday, firing of sirens in Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties. As the storm system weakened, the sirens were silenced before the warnings expired. See viewer photos here.

Heavy rain and vivid lightning were reported in Fort Worth and a radar indicated a tornado near North Richland Hills. There were reports of power outages and roof damage in the 7000 block of Primrose Lane in Colleyville.

Gene Drautz described the moment that the roof was ripped off of his Colleyville home.

North Texas Sees Hail, Damage From Storms

Drautz said the wind was "going real, real fast, probably 89 miles an hour and then all of a sudden a big loud thud ... sounded like an airplane was hitting the roof."

Severe Storms Move Through Denton

Heavy rain, small hail and vivid lightning moved through Denton County on Tuesday. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009)

Late Wednesday morning, The National Weather Service confirmed that the damage in Colleyville was caused by an F-1 tornado.

The tornado, which was estimated to be 100 yards wide, left a damage path of about a half mile long. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, an E-F 1 tornado is a moderate tornado with wind speeds between 73 and 112 mph.

A tornado was reported in Montague County at around 6:25 p.m. There were reports of a tornado touching down in Bowie in far northern Texas but no major damage.

"We only had a report of one barn with damage to it. No injuries and no other damage as far as I know," Montague County jail Lt. David Durham said.

Tracking Tuesday's Storm

Meteorologists, storm spotters and weather enthusiasts tracked the storms yesterday. The Storm Report map plotted all the hail, wind and tornado measurements, including the touchdowns here in North Texas.

High Winds Cause Dust Storms

Meanwhile, winds of more than 60 mph across parts of West Texas caused dust storms Tuesday afternoon that reduced visibility so much in some areas that some roads have been closed, the National Weather Service said.

Blowing dust reduced visibility in the cities of Pecos and Fort Stockton, said Cody Lindsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Midland.

The National Weather Service said that Texas Highway 17 between Pecos and Balmorhea and Farm-to-Market Road 2903 between Toyah and Balmorhea were closed due to low visibility from blowing dust.

Storms Knock Out Power in Hamilton County

Power was knocked out in much of Hamilton County Tuesday evening and a barn in Montague County was destroyed due to a line of strong thunderstorms with winds of up to 80 mph.

A spokesman in the sheriff's office in Hamilton said power was out to much of the north central Texas county.

There were reports of a tornado touching down in Bowie in far northern Texas but no major damage.

Montague County jail Lt. David Durham told The Associated Press there had been a report of one barn with damage to it. No injuries and no other damage had been reported.